A RESTAURANT PROJECT BY VICE VERSA IN DON MUEANG DESIGNED TO RESONATE WITH THE BEAVER’S NATURAL GNAWING HABITS, PROVIDING A SPACE TO ENHANCE LEARNING AND DRIVE INSPIRATION
TEXT: SURAWIT BOONJOO
PHOTO: THANAWATCHU
(For Thai, press here)
Guided by the belief that everything around us is interconnected, vice versa’s design and architectural firm adopts an integrated framework that forms a network of continuous interaction and considers multiple contexts. This approach facilitates knowledge exchange across disciplines beyond architecture, including art, art history and music. Founded and led by Pann Singharaj and Aritat Wonganan, both up-and-coming professionals in their respective fields of architecture and interior design, vice versa has, since 2020, pioneered a method that involves reversing and blending disciplines to create distinctive designs that continually evolve and redefine meaning.
One of their most recent projects, the House of Beaver, occupies a 30-square-meter space as a café and restaurant. Nestled in a verdant landscape beside a body of water, it offers a rich tapestry of various tree species in the Don Mueang area of Bangkok.
Despite the minimalist palette and subtle decorative details that dominate the interior ambiance, the white walls feature a thick, consistently applied plaster texture reminiscent of wave patterns, or the sleek and smooth surfaces of sculptures that expose deliberate imperfections and variations in the tone, grain and age of the wood. It demonstrates the effort of connecting the exterior and interior context through meticulous attention to detail, emphasizing their architectural design’s poetic and intricate syntax in tangible and abstract terms.
While working on their latest café project, the design team of vice versa emphasizes the concept of improving and addressing issues with the building and its surrounding context, stating, “In designing this café, we began with a general interest in exploring technical adaptation approaches to overcome construction limitations in each part of the space. Our goal was to create a functional and engaging environment, pushing the boundaries and potential of the café space to become more than just a place for relaxation, but rather a space that fosters learning and drives inspiration.”
Nestled on a landscaped residential strip in the northern reaches of Bangkok, the café serves as a beacon of directionality and perception. It is imagined as an oasis amidst a desert of a monotonous sprawl of cookie-cutter housing estates. The design expands physically and conceptually to accommodate and stimulate the activities and interactions of the local community, fostering a sense of place and purpose. The cafe’s existence facilitates and encourages interactions, engaging a diverse demographic in a dialogue with the metaphor of the ‘beaver,’ an emblem of industrious ecosystem creation. This character helps complement the design approach that resonates with the café’s design ethos, inviting patrons to experience the environment as if stepping into a campsite woven into nature.
With its L-shaped layout, the gabled roof building cleverly interacts with its external environment by integrating the essential structure of trees from a lush oasis into its design. This approach enhances the angular dynamics and fluidity of the open internal spaces by strategically placing four sawtooth-shaped columns of varying sizes throughout the area. These columns resonate with the beaver’s natural gnawing habits and the color gradation from the darker outer bark to the lighter inner wood, transforming them into sculptures or site-specific art installations. This is not an overstatement, given the craftsmanship involved. The woodworkers have cut and assembled leftover wood from the owner’s workshop, marking a collaboration between the local artisans and the architects. This partnership extends to experimenting and crafting bespoke chairs and tables for the café that playfully engage with the same narrative of movement and storytelling.
The dialogue playfully returns to the beaver’s creative construction processes within this crafted woodland. The uneven textures of each wall contribute to an atmosphere of informality, seamlessly blending with the crafted natural landscape without feeling out of place or intrusive. The design invites reflection on the place as a hub of inspiration through spatial creativity, stimulating innovative ideas through tactile interaction with the uneven surfaces of the design elements. All these elements potentially originate from the convenience of a space that offers thermal comfort, where visitors can retreat from the hustle and escape to simplicity. Nonetheless, the architects have based their design on a deep understanding of various interacting contexts. The House of Beaver thus mirrors this profound understanding, allowing for the intriguing deconstruction and reconstitution of design elements that lead to endless ‘vice versa’ contemplations.